G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup

by Kristen Manning/The Thoroughbred Report Extreme Choice (Aus) made history in the 2024 G1 Melbourne Cup by siring the longshot Knight's Choice (Aus), who stunned as Australia's top stayer. For Sheila Laxon, the first official female trainer to win a Melbourne Cup with Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm) in 2001, this victory marked a triumphant return to Flemington with her husband, John Symons. Owners Cameron Bain, Richard and Kaye Waldron watched their A$85,000 purchase become a A$5.8 million champion, realising breeder Norm Bazeley's vision, who originally acquired Knight's Choice's dam, Midnight Pearl...

Brian Ellison's Northumberland Plate winner Onesmoothoperator (Dialed In) put himself in contention for a tilt at the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup with an emphatic victory in the G3 Geelong Cup on Wednesday. Four horses have completed the Geelong Cup-Melbourne Cup double, with the first being Dunaden (Fr) for Mikel Delzangles in 2011. Onesmoothoperator needed to pick up a penalty at Geelong to be guaranteed a run at Flemington on Tuesday, November 4, but Ellison can now look forward to saddling another runner in 'the race that stops a nation' after...

The weights for the 133 horses still in the running for the Nov. 7 G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup were released on Tuesday and early 4-1 favourite Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) was assigned 55kg, 3.5kg below highweight and 2022 Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}). The Willie Mullins-trained 5-year-old former hurdler, who won the G3 Ballyroan S. at Naas last month after taking the Listed Copper Horse H. at Royal Ascot in his first flat attempt in June, sits sixteenth on the weights list. Vauban's stablemate and Ballyroan runner-up...